Mutated gene found in one-third of women may spike risk of weight gain

Mutated gene found in one-third of women may spike risk of weight gain

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Jason Rehel | 13/05/15 | Last Updated: 13/05/15 2:24 PM ET
More from Jason Rehel | @culturejunky

Matt Cardy/Getty Images filesA mutated gene — MMP2 — which can be found in 30% of women, may be at the root of why those people gain weight easier than women without the gene.

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While losing (or putting on) weight can seem to be all about will power (or a lack thereof), new research presented at a Liverpool, U.K. obesity conference this week suggests two genes — one in women and a different one in men — may play key roles in weight gain, including making it much more likely that a given person will binge on high-calorie foods.

Researchers at Maastricht University in Holland tracked the weight gains and losses of more than 500 men and women for a decade, and then analyzed their DNA for genes that have been implicated in obesity. Participants were between 20 and 45 years old when the study began.

Inadequate sleep can lead to overeating, weight gain in as little as a week: U.S. study

Losing just a few hours of sleep a night can lead to weight gain, a new study has shown, and effects can be seen after only a week’s worth of bad rest.

The findings, published this month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, outline the connection between insufficient sleep and overeating.

Researchers from the University of Colorado studied 16 healthy men and women for a two-week period. The subjects’ eating habits, metabolism and sleeping patterns were tracked in a completely controlled environment.

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In women, a mutated version of the gene MMP2 was common to those who had gained weight. The mutated version of the gene is thought to be found in about 30% of all women, and for women carrying it, the risk of weight gain over a 10-year period is two and half times higher than it is for women with the mutated MMP2.

Men did not see a correlated implication of the same gene, but instead were faced with their own “fat gene,” dubbed FTO, or the “junk food gene,” which nearly doubles men’s risk of gaining weight over 10 years by increasing their cravings for high fat, high sugar foods. Scientists said men with mutated expressions of the gene ate on average 100 calories more per meal, which added up to nearly 2,100 calories for a week, or about the amount of an entire day’s worth of energy.

Delegates at the European Congress on Obesity said they were optimistic the discovery could help identify people in future who lose weight but are at a much higher risk of gaining it back, and that identifying differences in female and male sex hormones, and how they relate to weight loss and gain may help tailor treatments for men and women.

The researchers also cautioned, however, that since their work has yet to appear in a peer-reviewed journal, that they should be considered preliminary.

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